Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Geert Wilders To Stand Trial Over Anti-Jihad Film
The Amsterdam appellate court has ruled that Dutch MP Geert Wildersmust stand trial for 'anti-Islam comments' in his film "Fitna".
The court overruled the public prosecutor who had declined to prosecute Wilders, whose film "Fitna" urged Muslims to tear out "hate-filled" verses from the Koran.
"The Amsterdam appeals court has ordered the prosecution of member of parliament Geert Wilders for inciting hatred and discrimination, based on comments by him in various media on Muslims and their beliefs," the court said in a statement.
"The court also considers appropriate criminal prosecution for insulting Muslim worshippers because of comparisons between Islam and Nazism made by Wilders," the statement said. {...}
"This is a very black day for me and for freedom of speech. I am shaken. I had absolutely not expected it," Dutch news agency ANP quoted Wilders as saying in an initial reaction.
Geert Wilders has a long history of fighting against what he calls the Islamization of the Netherlands. He's been the recipient of numerous death threats courtesy of the Religion of Peace because of it,which means he's had to live under 24 hour guard.Yet, with all that Wilders refused to be intimidated which has made him one of the most popular politicians on the Right in the Netherlands. This March, he released a short but explosive film called Fitna, ( which I recommend you watch) which seeks to show the connection between Islamic terrorism and the Qu'ran. The film pairs graphic footage of Islamic terrorism – including the 9/11 attacks, the Madrid train bombings, and the beheading of American contractor Nicholas Berg – with Koranic verses and clips of Islamic clerics preaching the murder of non-Muslims.
While the film has its rough points, the reaction to it proved Wilders' point beyond a doubt. When the film came out, it was released on the Internet by Liveleak, who quickly pulled it citing what they called “threats to our staff of a very serious nature.” The film was denounced by Islamists and their useful idiots throughout the world, with imams in the Middle East threatening slaughter if it ever saw the light of day. Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen, urged Wilders to give in to Islamist demands and destroy the film, warning that it could “endanger the lives of Dutch nationals” abroad, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon bowed to the UN's Muslim bloc and called it “offensively anti-Islamic.”
What's absolutely astounding about all this is that Wilders received support for "Fitna" from a very unusual source, Libyan-based jihadist Imam Omar Bakri. According to Bakri,not only was the film not offensive but as Bakriexplained, the linkage of the Qu'ran with violent jihad against the infidel was entirely accurate.
There's a back story to Wilders' legal prosecution of course. Because of his popularity and the fact that many of the Dutch are increasingly starting to agree with Wilders, he's a major target of the Dutch Left which increasingly depends on Muslim votes in the elections. Wilder is particularly hated by Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Minister of Justice Hirsh Ballin.
What seems to have happened is that an MP of the PvdA (Labour) party Els Lucas originally sought to have the public prosecutor charge Wilders.When he declined, Lucas brought the case to the much more liberal Amsterdam appellate court...which agreed to prosecute Wilders, thus forcing the public prosecutor's hand. So there's a good chance that Balkenende and Ballin has an unseen hand in the sudden reversal. it benefits them politically since Wilders' party will now have to spend enormous sums on legal fees instead of politics and campaigning.
Apparently this is an attempt to run Geert Wilders out of the Netherlands, the same way Ayaan Hirss Ali was hounded out of the country.
On a larger scale,this represents a precedent that will be eagerly seized on in the EU by the Islamists and their allies on the Left in shutting down free speech.
As a point of interest, Dutch imam Ahmad Salam is a Syrian immigrant who is well known in the Netherlands for preaching sermons urging Muslim men to beat their wives, telling his followers not to pay their taxes in order to “damage the state and calling for the destruction of Israel and the Jews.
He still lives and preaches in the Netherlands. And nobody is prosecuting him for anything.
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